SAN DIEGO, May 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nanogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: NGEN),
developer of advanced diagnostic products, announced today that it has been
issued two patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for technologies
related to genetic analysis. U.S. Patent 6,884,584, "Hybridization and
Mismatch Discrimination Using Oligonucleotides Conjugated to Minor Groove
Binders," claims the use of Nanogen's MGB probes on traditional solid phase
support. An unrelated patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,887,362, "Dielectrophoretic
Separation and Immunoassay Methods on Active Electronic Matrix Devices"
relates to devices and methods for performing active, multi-step molecular and
biological sample preparation and diagnostic analyses employing immunochemical
techniques. Nanogen's growing intellectual property portfolio now includes
117 U.S. patents.
The '584 patent for the minor groove binder technology relates to
conjugates between a minor groove binding molecule and an oligonucleotide,
which are used as probes to facilitate various analytic and diagnostic
procedures. The application covered by this patent utilizes a "capture down"
approach, where a target nucleic acid, immobilized directly or indirectly to a
solid support such as glass, is detected with a minor groove binder
oligonucleotide probe. Minor groove binder technology is based on a potent
class of naturally occurring antibiotics that bind to the minor groove of
double stranded DNA. When attached to either the 5' or 3' terminus of DNA
probes, hydrophobic binding of minor groove binder molecules to the minor
groove stabilizes the DNA duplex formed by these probes hybridizing to their
complementary targets. This allows the use of shorter probes with higher
sensitivity to mismatches. Nanogen's minor groove binder probe technology
greatly improves the performance of hybridization-based systems for genetic
analysis, including the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms, the
measurement of DNA and RNA isolates and allows the generation of highly
sensitive gene expression systems.
The '362 patent relates to bioparticle separation, bioparticle enrichment
and electric field-mediated immunochemical detection on active electronic
matrix devices utilizing electric fields. The invention relates to devices
and methods for sample preparation, manipulation, immunoimmobilization and
immunoassays, all of which can be conducted on one or more active electronic
chip devices within a single system. These manipulations are useful in a
variety of applications, including, for example, detection of pathogenic
bacteria and biological warfare agents, point-of-care diagnostics, food or
medical product quality control assays, and other biological assays.
"These patents further strengthen our position as a technology leader in
the genetic analysis market," said Howard C. Birndorf, Nanogen's chairman of
the board and CEO. "Our minor groove binding technology, which is part of the
MGB Eclipse(TM) Probe Systems and MGB Eclipse(TM) Detection reagents, provides
product differentiation and superior performance for our research and clinical
customers employing widely-used real-time PCR applications for molecular and
gene-expression analysis."
About Nanogen, Inc.
Nanogen's advanced diagnostics provide physicians and patients worldwide
with sophisticated information to predict, diagnose and treat disease.
Research and clinical reference labs use the highly accurate and reliable
NanoChip(R) Molecular Biology Workstation, NanoChip(R) Electronic Microarray
and broad suite of analyte specific reagents to develop diagnostic tests for
variety of diseases. Nanogen also offers a broad portfolio of patented
nucleic acids chemistries and molecular tools that accelerate genomic analysis
and are compatible with many systems. The SynX subsidiary offers a line of
point-of-care diagnostic tests and is building expertise in cardiac related
health conditions. Nanogen's ten years of pioneering research involving
nanotechnology may also have future applications in medical diagnostics,
biowarfare and other industries. For additional information please visit
Nanogen's website at www.nanogen.com.
Nanogen Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, including whether
patents owned or licensed by Nanogen will be developed into products, whether
the patents owned by Nanogen offer any protection against competitors with
competing technologies, whether products under development can be successfully
developed and commercialized, whether results reported by our customers or
partners can be identically replicated, and other risks and uncertainties
discussed under the caption "Factors That May Affect Results" and elsewhere in
Nanogen's Form 10-K or Form 10-Q most recently filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date hereof. Nanogen disclaims any intent or obligation to update these
forward-looking statements.